FIG. 42 is a perspective view showing a harness 1. As shown in the figure, the harness 1 includes a covered wire 2 cut off by a predetermined length and terminals 3 attached to stripped end portions which are provided by stripping a covering at the opposite ends of the covered wire 2.
An apparatus for producing the harness 1 should have a structure for performing processes of cutting a covered wire, stripping a covering from a cut end portions of the covered wire and attaching terminals to the stripped end portions.
FIG. 43 shows a conventional producing apparatus. The harness producing apparatus comprises a wire feeding means 11 for feeding a covered wire 14 and a wire cutting means 12 having a pair of cutters for cutting off the covered wire 14 by nipping the upper and lower sides thereof and for cutting into its covering. The harness producing apparatus further includes a terminal attaching means 15 for attaching a terminal to a stripped end portion of the covered wire 14 and a moving means 13 for moving the covered wire 14 from a wire cutting position to a terminal attaching position.
In the harness producing apparatus, the covered wire 14 is fed by a predetermined amount in an direction of an arrow P by the wire feeding means 11, and then it is cut off with the cutters of the wire cutting means 12. Next, the covered wire 14 is moved forward by a covering stripped length in the direction of the arrow P by the wire feeding means 11, and the cutters of the wire cutting means 12 cut into the covering of the covered wire 12 from upper and lower sides. After that, the wire feeding means 11 moves the covered wire 14 backward while the cutters cut into the covering, so that the covering to be stripped is stripped out. The covered wire 14 which is partially stripped off is moved by the moving means 13 to a position where a terminal can be attached to the stripped end portion 16, and the stripped end portion 16 is attached with the terminal by the terminal attaching means 15.
However, it is necessary in such a harness producing apparatus that the moving means 13 is placed between the wire feeding means 11 and the wire cutting means 12, so that the distance between the wire feeding means 11 and the wire cutting means 12 must be long. Therefore, when the covered wire 14 is moved backward by the wire feeding means 11 with the cutters of the wire cutting means 12 cutting into the covering in the stripping process, a portion of the covering between the cutter and the wire feeding means 11 expands. As a result, the length of stripped and exposed portions of the core become ununiform in the respective stripped end portions 16 and the stripping accuracy is reduced.
Further, since the position in the terminal attaching means 15 to which the moving means 13 moves the covered wire can not be changed automatically, the setting position of the terminal attaching means 15 must be moved and adjusted to fit for every kind of attached terminals having different size and configuration. The adjustment must take much time and labor.
Although FIG. 43 shows an apparatus for attaching a terminal to one end of a harness, it is usually desirable that this kind of apparatus can attach terminals to both ends of the harness. Further, it is also desirable that this kind of apparatus has high processing capability and its cutters have high durability.